Thread by @JBeardsleyMath, Just a reminder that the problem with the academic job market is [...]

Jonathan Beardsley

JBeardsleyMath

Just a reminder that the problem with the academic job market is not that there are "too many PhDs." The problem is that universities are working really hard to eliminate permanent, stable employment for their faculty and thereby reducing the quality of undergraduate education.

Those things that everyone hates Wal-Mart for doing, like breaking apart unions and finding clever ways of avoiding giving people benefits or job stability? Yeah, that& #39;s also universities.

The number of undergraduate students in the US has massively increased over the past several decades. It stands to reason that we should need a lot more professors to teach them, and expose them to active scholarship and research.

Instead what we& #39;ve done is: increase the price of going to college, reduce the number of people at universities with the time and energy to do research, and increase the work-load of academic laborers with no voice.

We& #39;ve also increased the use of "cost-saving" mechanisms like automating test proctoring, automating homework administration and grading, taking away office space from faculty, and shutting down or merging departments which can& #39;t "pull their weight."

I also believe that a lot of administrators are going to use the pandemic as an excuse to cut a lot of corners. Of course the entire economy is suffering right now, but in my opinion it& #39;s just the cherry on top of a long program of dismantling the academy. It& #39;s an excuse.

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